1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scanner device and an image reading and display method.
2. Description of the Related Art
The prevalence and spread of network such as local area network (LAN) in office environment has made popular sharing of a single device, such as a scanner device, connected to the network among a plurality of computers, also connected to the network.
Such a network scanner device is equipped with various functions that allow previewing an image data read by the scanner device, editing the preview image, sending the image data to the computers on the network, accepting password input, etc. Therefore, such a network scanner device usually comes with an input device such as a keyboard and an output device such as a display.
JP-A-5-204585 discloses a device that is obtained as a result of integrating a high-resolution display device, which has higher resolution than a character display device, with the character display device, so that read image data such as a personal or company seal can be displayed.
JP-A-6-255211 discloses a printer device capable of connecting a display and a keyboard so as to enhance input operability of mode settings of the printer.
Among network scanners, an automatic document feeder (ADF) type scanner comes equipped with the functions of continuous automatic document feeding, continuous reading of both sides of a plurality of original documents, batch conversions of large volumes of original documents into image data (of file formats such as Portable Document Format (PDF), Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), Tagged Image File Format (TIFF), MTIFF (multi TIFF)), etc., when the original documents are set in the ADF.
Scan Station 100 produced by Eastman Kodak Company (http://wwwjp.kodak.com/JP/ja/business/products/network/sca nStation100.shtml) is the ADF type network scanner and is equipped with a small numerical keypad and a touch panel as input devices and a small display as a display device.
However, the advantage of compactness of input and output devices of the network scanner generally clashes with the enhancement of input operability and display ability while using them. In other words, in conventional network scanners, when the input and output devices attached to the network scanner are made compact to enable flexibility in the place of installation of the network scanner, there is a tradeoff in the ease of operation of the input device and poor visibility on the display.
For example, as in the ADF type network scanner (such as the Scan Station 100), when the installation area of the scanner device is reduced to enable flexibility in the place of installation of the scanner device itself, by making the input and output devices compact, this leads to loss of convenience for the users, when they use the scanner device.
Specifically, when the display device disclosed in JP-A-5-204585 is integrated with the network scanner device, the compactness is lost due to integration.
As in the JP-A-5-204585, when the network scanner device is made connectable to the display and the keyboard, this will result in increased installation area.